“I didn’t quite realize that I had made an actual album, but the more that I listened to these songs consecutively the more I felt that a connective tissue was starting to form among the disparate pie
“I didn’t quite realize that I had made an actual album, but the more that I listened to these songs consecutively the more I felt that a connective tissue was starting to form among the disparate pieces and eventually I came to a point where I couldn’t listen to one song without the others,” said Ryan Micklos about his most recent release, A Brighter Birth.
The 32-year-old, Richmond-based musician, released the 13-track pop album im May and recorded and produced it from the comfort of his own home. A Brighter Birth is centered around that concept and all of the nuances that come with recording from home.
“For me, the main goal was to create and perform everything myself, in my home,” he said. I really wanted to own every aspect of the music…whether that be playing with mixing techniques, experimenting with repetition and various musical ideas, or just getting more familiar with instruments I don’t often play or write with.”
The musician’s new release has a certain intimacy because of it’s homemade feeling. It feels honest and real, both of which were intentional from the album’s inception. Micklos appreciates the aesthetics of raw-recording and minimal production. It’s a technique for him, a way to convey his art that is both interesting and original.
“I have really come to embrace ambient room noise and all of the sounds instruments make as part of the recording,” MIcklos said. It just feels real to me. And when it comes to hisses and hums, I find that aesthetic really exciting. It’s just another color on your palette that you can use.”
Micklos’ desire to experiment was only part of the inspiration for the new album, A Brighter Birth. Like most artists, he was heavily influenced by his personal life. Inspired by the changes and creation going in his life, Micklos decided to sit down and capture moments from his life.
“This collection of music is about new change born out of past reflection,” he said. “It was created with immediacy and each track is a snapshot of a single moment. I’m not sure if it was because I was watching my wife create life right in front of me, but I felt an urgent need to create as well, as I watched her change into this beautiful mother figure.”
T The musician found it liberating to let things be as they are. By allowing his art to manifest naturally, Micklos’ album maintains its honesty. Nothing about it is artificial.
“I let it be what it would be, without trying to change it and force it into any certain direction,” he said. “There is a freedom in this process, also a vulnerability that I felt. Kind of like, ‘Here it is. Take me for what I am. And I’m not afraid to be just that’.”
He said that his music is made to be “mystical soundscapes where I, and the listener, can simultaneously escape and just deal with shit.” How will that translate when Micklos is put on a stage? The artist is looking forward to the opportunity that live shows will present to experiment with sound and work with other local artists.
“I’m not exactly sure what form the songs will take in a live setting,” he said. “I may need to tap into the amazing musician pool here in Richmond to help really bring this to a live setting. Hopefully when these songs are played live the same sense of awe and magic can be conveyed.”
